


Before the Blood's Run Stale

by JEAikman



Category: Graceland (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Mike plays the guitar, Mike sings, post 1.04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 21:04:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/904912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JEAikman/pseuds/JEAikman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not been long since Mike saw Eddie blow his brains out - he's still trying to work through how he feels and what he should do. But he notices a guitar in his room and he starts playing. Briggs hears him and they make a night of it, and Mike grants everyone's music requests.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before the Blood's Run Stale

Everyone else had headed down to the beach. They'd asked Mike if he wanted to come, but they didn't force him. Briggs stopped by the door as they left, turning to watch as Mike try to hide all the pain behind his eyes with a smile.  
"I'll catch up later, maybe. You guys go chill." Briggs nodded, and left Mike to his own devices. He knew the kid needed to work through this on his own, and having everyone hovering over him probably wasn't helping things.

He headed up to his room and flopped backwards onto the bed, letting out a long sigh. How was he going to get over this when every time he closed his eyes he saw that man's face and wondered how he was supposed to get used to this - because he knew this wouldn't be the last time, far from it. As an undercover agent he was going to see a lot of death. And he thought he'd been prepared for that, but apparently not. This whole mess had gotten to him in a way that he had in no way expected or been ready for. Why was Eddie's death such a burden on him? Because the man had been right about him. He'd had the chance to shoot him and instead killed himself. Why? Mike let his mind sift through the murky waters of the whole situation but he was still coming up empty. 

He was just staring into space when he noticed, leaning against the back of the door, an old, worn acoustic guitar. Huh. Must have been Donny's. He reached out and settled it on his knee, played a few chords, and tuned it as needed. His fingers found their way around the music, and he just let himself fall into the moment. He didn't even think as he started singing:  
"When the days are cold, and the cards all fold and the saints we see are all made of gold,  
When your dreams all fail and the ones we hail are the worst of all, and the blood's run stale;  
I wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you, but with the beast inside there's nowhere we can hide;  
No matter what we breed we still are made of greed,  
This is my kingdom come, this is my kingdom come" He paused, sighing before the next line.  
"When you feel my heat, look into my eyes, it's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide;  
Don't get too close, it's dark inside, it's where my demons hide, it's where my demons hide." He didn't really feel like finishing the song, but it had felt good just to vent out all his feelings in the song. When he stopped playing and opened his eyes, he saw Briggs watching him from the doorway.

"Oh... I uh. You haven't been there the whole time, have you?" Briggs just shook his head, smiling sadly and sat down next to Mike, who leans the guitar carefully against the wall.  
"I haven't played in ages. I just... I saw it there and-" Mike started to say, but Briggs cut him off  
"Hey, kid, it's okay. You don't need to justify it to me. It's not like Lauren's here to be pissed at you using Donny's stuff. Whatever you need to get it out of your system, that's cool. Surfing helps, for me." Mike relaxed a little, still wary of Briggs, but looking up to him for support anyway. The older man put his arm around him, and in spite of everything, Mike just felt safe.  
"Though I gotta wonder about your song choice. Got some deep, dark secret I should know about?" And suddenly Mike tensed up again. But he hides it quickly.  
"Maybe I do." Mike tells him, honestly. "Maybe I'm just going crazy." He smiles at Briggs, who just shakes his head kindly.  
"I don't think so, Mikey. You're a good kid, and you're shaping up to be a damn good agent. You'll get over this, you'll work through this. Okay?" He looked Mike directly in the eyes until he nods. "Good. Now, I think you should bring that down to the beach and we'll have a little jam session. We've needed a guitarist for a while now. Donny couldn't play for shit. You got real talent, kid. Could of been in a band."  
"Yeah. In another life, maybe." Mike grudgingly allowed Paul to guide him down to the beach, guitar in tow. Everyone looked relieved to see them, and Mike realised just how worried they'd been. Johnny grabbed him and held him in a hug for at least three seconds too long. Charlie hovered over him like a mama hen and DJ pretended to ignore him, but Mike could see the look of relief plastered all over his face. Briggs is just watching from the sidelines, quiet, but commanding.

"Well, my friends, we have here, our very own guitarist and singer in Levi here. Queue up with your requests, lady and gents. Would you do something by Dean Martin?" So they passed the night with singing and laughter and drinking. Mike happily obliges everyone's requests, and any song he doesn't know, he looks up the chords on his phone. The night passed pleasantly, and Mike felt like he could finally let go of it all.  
"Why don't you play something you want to, Mikey? We've been giving you requests all night. Play something you want to." Charlie told him at one point. The others joined her in encouraging him.  
"Yeah, come on Mikey, what sort of music do you like?" Jonny asked. Mike thought about it for a while.

"Well, I sort of really like soundtrack music. It's not got any words, but the actual instruments and the notes can convey the emotions without the aid of a voice..." He tuned up the guitar and played a few practice chords, before deciding what to play.  
"This one's called "Odin Confesses", it's from Thor." And when he began to play, he could almost swear he saw Briggs freeze up. Odd. But it only lasts a moment, and he relaxes, and leaves Mike to continue playing the song.

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted a fic of them all gathered around the campfire and singing. I know realistically you probably couldn't play Odin Confesses on the guitar. But it's there for... reasons.


End file.
